Trump-Inspired Populist Milei Wins Argentina’s Presidential Elections
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent
BUENOS AIRES (Worthy News) – Political outsider and populist Javier Milei, resoundingly won Argentina’s presidential election Sunday after he promised to tackle soaring inflation and rising poverty in the South American nation.
His opponent, Economy Minister Sergio Massa of the Peronist party, conceded defeat and congratulated Milei. “Obviously, the results are not what we had hoped for, and I have spoken to Javier Milei to congratulate him and wish him well because he is the president that the majority of Argentines have elected for the next four years,” he declared.
Argentina’s move to the right marked the end of a polarized campaign in which Milei used sensational rhetoric with commentators suggesting former U.S. President Donald J. Trump had been his mentor.
Partial election results showed Milei had roughly 56 percent and Massa about 44 percent with most ballots. Should that margin hold, it would be wider than predicted by all polls and the widest since Argentina’s return to democracy in 1983, according to analysts.
“The model of decadence has come to an end; there’s no going back,” Milei said in a defiant speech after the results, while also acknowledging the challenges facing him.
As soon as his victory became clear, drivers honked their horns, and many took to the streets of Buenos Aires to celebrate in several neighborhoods of the capital.
Outside Mile’s party headquarters, a hotel in downtown Buenos Aires, a full-on party kicked off with supporters singing, buying beers from vendors, and setting off colored smoke bombs.
WAVING FLAGS
They waved Argentine flags and the yellow Gadsden flag, emblazoned with the words “Don’t Tread On Me,” which Mile’s movement has adopted.
“We came to celebrate this historic triumph,” Efrain Viveros, a 21-year-old student from the province of Salta, told reporters. “I’m honestly ecstatic. Milei represents change for the better. With Massa, we’d have had no future; our future has returned.”
The 53-year-old Milei is pledging economic shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank and ditching the national currency, the peso.
He also promised to slash spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise.
“We have monumental problems ahead: inflation, lack of work, and poverty,” the shock-therapy politician said.
“The situation is critical, and there is no place for tepid half-measures,” in the nation of some 47 million people, he added.
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